• the opposition or dissimilarity of things that are compared
• the act of distinguishing by comparing differences
• a conceptual separation or distinction
• the perceptual effect of the juxtaposition of very different colors
• the range of optical density and tone on a photographic negative or print (or the extent to which adjacent areas on a television screen differ in brightness)
verb
• put in opposition to show or emphasize differences
• social status or position conferred by a system based on class
• (Hinduism) a hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity
• a social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank or profession or wealth
• in some social insects (such as ants) a physically distinct individual or group of individuals specialized to perform certain functions in the colony
• Used to state the existence or presence of someone in a specified relationship with the subject.
• To partake of (a particular substance, especially food or drink, or action or activity).
• To be scheduled to attend, undertake or participate in.
• To experience, go through, undergo.
• To be afflicted with, suffer from.
• (auxiliary verb, taking a past participle) Used in forming the perfect aspect.
• Used as an interrogative verb before a pronoun to form a tag question, echoing a previous use of 'have' as an auxiliary verb or, in certain cases, main verb. (For further discussion, see the appendix English tag questions.)
• (auxiliary verb, taking a to-infinitive) See have to.
• To give birth to.
• To engage in sexual intercourse with.
• To accept as a romantic partner.
• (transitive with bare infinitive) To cause to, by a command, request or invitation.
• (transitive with adjective or adjective-phrase complement) To cause to be.
• (transitive with bare infinitive) To be affected by an occurrence. (Used in supplying a topic that is not a verb argument.)
• (transitive with adjective or adjective-phrase complement) To depict as being.
• To defeat in a fight; take.
• (obsolete outside Ireland) To be able to speak (a language).
• To feel or be (especially painfully) aware of.
• To trick, to deceive.
• (often with present participle) To allow; to tolerate.
• (often used in the negative) To believe, buy, be taken in by.
• To host someone; to take in as a guest.
• To get a reading, measurement, or result from an instrument or calculation.
• (of a jury) To consider a court proceeding that has been completed; to begin deliberations on a case.
Note: This list has been curated by our developer and author and fine-tuned since 2016 with manual additions, exclusions and rankings. Thousands of user contributions from rappers, singers, songwriters and poets have also been used for accuracy.